A review by erraticeldandil
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

challenging dark slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5


You are a man in the New England that has just encountered a strange atmosphere or phenomena. You ask around but the local folk's explanations are fantastical and not up to spat for an educated logical man like yourself. You decide to look into it yourself and oh no, you percieve horrors so horrible that you can't begin to describe them on the page. You escape barely with your life and if you're lucky your mind but never forget the dark things you saw. 


So I have really mixed feelings on this book. 
 On the one hand (+), Lovecraft is very evocative in his landscapes and scenes. They were by far my favorite part as a lover of world building.
 Also, from what I've heard, Lovecraft was a major foundation for the modern horror genre so credit where credit is arguably due. 


On the other hand (-), is everything else. 
 First, god was there a lot of racism,  orientalism, and xenophobia. It's been said before but it really didn't need to be there. Other contemporaneous books were fine without this volume of it. What especially miffed me is that the editor put a grand total of one line on this introduction briefly mentioning it in a neutral light whereas it should have really warranted a more critical analysis. 


Next, it was incredibly formulaic. The little summary I wrote above describes 90% of the stories in this book. After a while it got tiring to read characters who thought very similarly when presented with basically the same situation over and over. 


Finally, I am not sure if it's because I am too familiar with common literary tropes compared to the average reader at the beginning of the 20th century but it was painfully obvious what the "twists" for certain stories would be. There wouldn't even be that much information given but the way it was presented would immediately trigger a realization and the later reveal would be dulled. 


Favorite stories: Celephaïs, Picture in the House, He, Color in Space. 

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